While there is an important, positive evolution taking place regarding the settlements, what we really need to do is revolutionize our leadership and its ideas. If not, this evolution will end up as another 40 years in the desert and the loss of much that we hold dear.

About the Author:Moshe Feiglin is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and a member of Israel's Security and Defense Committee. He heads the Manhigut Yehudit ("Jewish Leadership") faction of Israel's governing Likud party.
He is the founder of Manhigut Yehudit and Zo Artzeinu and the author of two books: "Where There Are No Men" and "War of Dreams."
Feiglin served in the IDF as an officer in Combat Engineering and is a veteran of the Lebanon War.
He lives in Ginot Shomron with his family.

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10 Responses to “Annexation Or Fade Away”

"Later, the Jordanians refuted any claims of sovereignty over the territory. Thus, when the IDF captured Judea and Samaria from King Hussein, who didn’t even pretend to be its owner, it was hardly an occupation."

The sequence is wrong. Jordan renounced sovereignty claims two decades after the capture. But as of 1967, the entire world, including Israel, had accepted Jordan's *de facto* sovereignty over the area. For example, all nations accepting the Jordanian passports that it had issued to Palestinians in the West Bank, Israel expropriated the Rockefeller Museum to get the Dead Sea Scrolls (it could not have done that in that manner had it not been Jordanian government property), and Israel even allowed Jordanian schools to continue to operate for decades.

'The local Arabs, who have suddenly invented the Palestinian nation'.

Palestinian nationality was explicitly created by the League of Nations Mandate, not by "local Arabs".

"Every part of the Land of Israel under Israeli control at any time automatically becomes part of the territory of the State of Israel."

If this were true, then the three million Arabs in Yehudah, Shomron, and Gaza should have become Israeli citizens, along with the half million in Sinai. If Israeli law really did provide for automatic annexation, why did the Knesset have to enact a special law regarding the status of East Jerusalem?

This newspaper is a joke, neglecting to follow any journalistic norms. It can't even identify the author of this piece, making him seem like a normal guy with an opinion when in reality he has an agenda, he is a settler, and hardline Likud leader.

On your last point, IIRC, Israel's position has been that they don't need to annex territories to which they have a claim. That is why Israel never formally annexed East Jerusalem. They merely extended their laws and jurisdiction to it.

as usual Moshe speaks the truth with adjoining facts , future possibilities and outcomes which sadly and historically are in the habit of being politically sabotaged, nevertheless let's hope something good comes of this for us.

Charlie, the Old City of Jerusalem was designated an "international city" by the World Congress in 1948, so that everyone could have access but the Jordanians claimed it in 1948 and put barbed wire all around it so that no Jew could enter the Old City. The world accepted this too. Just because other countries accept it doesn't make it right.

{Originally posted to author’s website, FirstOne Through} TRUST Trust is the bedrock of a functional relationship. It enables one party to rely on the other. A trust that includes both intention and capability permits a sharing of responsibility and workload. The relationship between US President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu started off badly and further […]

Erica Pelman is a spiritually-driven woman. She is founder and director of “In Shifra’s Arms” (ISA), an organization that offers aid to pregnant Jewish women of all religious backgrounds practically, financially and emotionally. Its arms are open to any pregnant woman in need whether single, divorced, separated, or from a financially-strapped family. “Presently, we are […]